The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1887-09-06
A CHAPTER on RATTLERS
WHAT OLD SIMON KENT KNOWS
ABOUT THEM.
Ready to Feast on Anything But Bats,
Bantams and Hogs. and Not to be
Trusted at ALL
Erom the Neto Yo,.k Times.

Simon Kent, the ''rattlesnake king'of Clin-
ton county. whose home is near the head
waters of Paddy's Run, in this township, II
snakes. fought to. I've lived next door
neighbor to them for 40 years. They're
friends of mine, but | wouldn't trust one
of them single second if he was in reach of
me-"
Kent and a 16-year-old SOL live alone in
the woods. The father is man of intelli-
gence, but spends most of his time in cap
turing rattlesnakes, which are abundant in
his locality. He has sometimes as many as
200 of these venomous reptiles in captivity
at one time. He supplies side shows and
museums with live rattlers, and he has
quite trade In tanned rattlesnake skins,
which are used extensively by manufact-
ure1s of fancy articles. He also sells large
quantities of rattlesnake oil, faith i'll its
efficacy as liniment being general through
out this part of Pennsylvania
"rve got a rattlesnake at home,n con-
tinued the rattlesnake king, ''that have
had II years. raised him from the time
he was 8 inches long. and think the world
of him, but he's got his fangs in, and know
that he would just as leave sock them into
me as into anything else. / call him
Nicodemus. | have learned a good deal
about rattlesnakes during my long expert
ence with them, but have discovered more
things about them through Nicodemus than
in any other way. Among other things I
have found that the rattlesnake changes its
skin twice year-in July and September
and that if they can't get to water while
they're shedding thier skin it will come off
slowly and i'll pieces, instead of peeling off
in one whole piece from head to tail. But
I've never caught onto just how they get
the skin off. I've gone to bed at night and
left Nicodemus without his showing any
more sign of peeling himself than if he'd
been a stick of wood, but in the morning
his old clothes would be lying in one corner
of the cage, and he would be as bright as
an old-fashioned patchwork quilt in his new
ones.
1T is the general impression that when a
rattleSnase is shedding his skin he gets
blind There is no mistake that his eyes do
get covered with a film at that time, but
Just put a mouse in his cage and see how
quick he'll coil up and send for it, and hit it
in the neck every time A rattlesnake al
ways strikes for the neck and he always
strikes his prey before he eats it; but you
may fill his cage with rats, or mice, or frogs,
or anything else he likes, and oll never
touch one of them unless he's hungry. He
kills only enough for one meal and when
that is swallowed anything and everything
that's left can crawl over him jump on him.
and tumble him around as much as it pleases
and he'll never say boo The rattlesnake
Is not a wanton destroyer, nor Is he glut-
ton Two mice will make him an ample
meal. had my pet rattlesnake ten months
before he ate a mouthful or drank drop of
anything. A ratteSnake has been known to
remain fourteen months in captivity without
eating or drinking, and then all of sudden
IN ~ |
Nicodemus in his cage at the age of 10
months put a young dove in with him.
Now there isn't anything on the earth or i'll
the air that rattlesnake won't kill and eat
ii it's hungry, and"-
Except bats. pop" interrupted the rattle
snake kings sunburned boy.
''Oh, yes, except bats, assented the King.
II put a bat in Nicodeinus' cage once and
thought he'd go crazy He coiled himself
up in one corner of his cage and actually bid
his head. All he'd do was to rattle. | was
afraid the bat would scare the snake to
death, 50 took it out of the cage. [ put
the dove III the cage with NicodenuS just TO
see what he would do That dove lived with
the snake five years I've often seen it and
Nicodemlls asleep together, sometimes the
bird being perched on the snake, and some
times wrapped up i'll its coils. At the same
time the snake was killing birds, mice,
young rabbits, and other things right along,
as its appetite called for. One day the dove
got its head through one OF the meshes in
the woven wire of the cage, and before it
was discovered the poor bird was choked to
death like pheasant in d snare. | got an
other one SO nearly like the dead dove that
no one could have told EN- apart. When
Nicodemus was asleep put the bird in his
cage The snake woke up along III the after
noon. He had hardly got his eyes open
when he sprang at that dove like flash of
lightning and made his supper off of her.
He knew she wasn't his old friend that
died ....
There is no telling how long an animal
will live after being struck by a rattlesnake,
and it may not die at all. | have known
rat to die within six minutes after Nlcode-
mus set his fangS i'll its neck, and have
known one, again, to live more than day
after being struck | turned a little ban
tam hen into Nicodemus' cage one day, and
when he struck her it made her so mad that
she drove him into a corner bleeding like
stuck pig. / was afraid this excited little
fowl would kill him, and took her as soon
as could. She keeled over All hour after
ward, and supposed, of course, that she
was done for, with all that rattlesnake
poison in her, but she lived three days in a
stupor and then gradually got we'll. That
was the only instance ever knew of any
thing recovering from the bite of rattle
snake without being treated for the poison
ing.p
Except hogs, pop" INTERCEPTED the rattle
snake kings son once more.
"Oh. yes, except hogs replied the father
lord. yes Hogs don't mind rattleSnakes
any more that | mind flies l had an old
SOW once do you mind old Jennie, Bob.--
that was regular terror after rattleSnakes
She could find the trail of one as surely as
hound can find the deer's track, ard she'd
follow that trail till she came up with the
snake that made it, and then the RATHER was
her meat She didn't seem to care for any
other kind of snakes, but she'd hunt rattlers
from the beginning of the season till the
end. If could have taught that pig to re-
trieve she'd have been worth good deal to
Inc, for the number of snakes she'd have
brought in during the season would have
been immense: but she wasn't on the re-
trieve. She was hunting for her own ac
connlodation, and ate every snake she
caught, leaving only the head. used to find
20 many rattlesnake heads on my tours
through the woods that it began to dawn on
me that my old SOW was working dead
against me by destroying the snake crop,
and was finally forced to kill her Tor my
own protection
Il have tried the effect of Nicodemus' bite
on many different animals and birds. and
with the exception OF the bantam and cur
dog that experimental on, every one OF
them died, some very soon after being Dit
ten, and some not until three or four days
he'd passed. | am sorry to say that Nicode-
nue bae n ra.1orJ of nna man too on his list